A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

WP-01037-3.0 White Paper

This white paper describes the use of Altera® FPGAs to deliver a multistandard
Industrial Ethernet capability from a single PCB implementation. The benefits of
FPGA implementation are described and an overview of the FPGA development flow,
tools, and technology used to create a universal but easy-to-maintain solution is
given.

Introduction
Since its conception by Xerox in the mid-1970s and standardization as IEEE 802.3 in
1983, Ethernet has become the de facto standard for computer communication in the
business world. Ethernet networks have evolved from coaxial cable-based systems
delivering 3-Mbps performance to systems built from unshielded twisted pair
(Cat5 UTP) cables that deliver high reliability, low cost, and 100-Mbps performance.
With devices capable of 1-Gbps Ethernet already in the market and 10-Gbps on the
horizon, the continuous evolution of Ethernet (see Table 1) will continue to service
market requirements long into the future.
Table 1. Evolution of the Ethernet Standard
Year Standard Summary
1983 IEEE 802.3 Basic Ethernet standard
1985 IEEE 802.3a 10Base2 thin Ethernet standard
1990 IEEE 802.3i 10Base-T 10-Mbps Ethernet standard
1995 IEEE 802.3u 100Base-TX/T4/FX 100 Mbps (fast Ethernet)
1997 IEEE 802.3x Full-duplex Ethernet standard
1998 IEEE 802.3y 100Base-T2 Fast Ethernet standard over UTP
1999 IEEE 802.3ab 1000Base-T 1 Gbps
2003 IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet
2006 IEEE 802.3an 10GBase-T 10 Gbps

Factories want higher bandwidth (performance) and more easily managed networks
using existing Ethernet equipment where possible to reduce the total cost of
ownership. The range, availability, and ease of implementation of Ethernet, combined
with the pressure to integrate the factory system with the corporate network, have
driven industrial developers to create Industrial Ethernet-based networking solutions
that are compatible with, or—in new or upgraded equipment—even replace,
industrial fieldbus communication solutions.

© 2010 Altera Corporation. All rights reserved. ALTERA, ARRIA, CYCLONE, HARDCOPY, MAX, MEGACORE, NIOS,
QUARTUS and STRATIX are Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. and/or trademarks of Altera Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
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101 Innovation Drive accordance with Altera’s standard warranty, but reserves the right to make changes to any products and services at any time
without notice. Altera assumes no responsibility or liability arising out of the application or use of any information, product, or
San Jose, CA 95134 service described herein except as expressly agreed to in writing by Altera. Altera customers are advised to obtain the latest
version of device specifications before relying on any published information and before placing orders for products or services.
www.altera.com

November 2010 Altera Corporation

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Page 2 Implementing a Universal Industrial Ethernet Solution

Many Ethernet-based industrial communication protocols exist today, each with its
own individual pros and cons. Some of these protocols, including the popular
PROFINET, EtherNet/IP, and EtherCAT protocols, have been standardized as “open”
protocol standards so any developer can create an implementation of that protocol.
These open protocols tend to be more popular and used more widely across the
industry.
Some solutions simply bundle fieldbus or application data into standard Ethernet
packets and require nothing more than a standard Ethernet TCP/IP implementation.
This implementation lacks the real-time performance and determinism that is
required of many industrial networks today. All industrial Ethernet protocols require
additional custom software, and most of the higher performance protocols require
custom hardware as well. This combination of protocol-specific hardware and
software makes it difficult for developers to maintain a solution that supports
multiple protocols.
Not only are there many Ethernet protocols in existence, but these protocol standards
continue to evolve, leveraging changes in the base Ethernet standard and
improvements in technology. In order to compete, industrial equipment
manufacturers must find a cost-effective way to support as many Industrial Ethernet
protocols as possible and be able to quickly adopt protocol changes, support new
protocols, and incorporate other system improvements.

Implementing a Universal Industrial Ethernet Solution

Engineering a solution to support many protocols is clearly possible—all that is
needed is a series of plug-in boards, one for each protocol. But with the number of
standards on the market and their constant evolution, how can a multiboard solution
be cost effective while supporting new features and additional protocols in a timely
manner? Where standard Ethernet hardware is used, protocol-specific software must
be developed or ported to run on the chosen processor device, and this takes time.
Furthermore, with these ever-increasing product requirements, it is only a matter of
time before the selected CPU runs out of processing power to run the application and
the protocol standard concurrently.
Historically, ASICs and ASSPs provided a fixed solution for Industrial Ethernet
communication. However, these devices may need to be changed when the protocol is
revised and customers want to leverage the features or guarantee compatibility with
the updated standard. When the Ethernet protocol is upgraded, it takes time to
develop new ASICs and ASSPs, then new PCBs must be developed, bringing all the
costs and delays involved with developing new hardware. Multiple boards may be
required to support both legacy and new versions of the protocol. The reliance on
ASICs and ASSPs can also bring supply issues and, with rapidly changing protocol
standards and life cycles in excess of 10 to 15 years for industrial systems, potential
obsolescence of the devices is a real problem. These types of multiboard solutions are
likely to be expensive, difficult to support, and slow to deliver new features.
An alternative solution is to address these problems by using an FPGA to implement
the networking solutions (see Figure 1). One of the key benefits of FPGAs is their
flexibility. A designer can build one PCB and program (reconfigure) the hardware to
work with any Industrial Ethernet protocol at any time. If a different protocol is
required, or if the customer changes their order before the product ships, or even if the
product is already in the field, it takes only seconds to reprogram the FPGA with the

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation

Implementing a Universal Industrial Ethernet Solution Page 3

required configuration file. This type of multistandard solution greatly reduces

development costs and minimizes inventory and supply chain issues. Creating a new
configuration file for the FPGA may require the development of new software or
hardware, but with Altera’s Quartus® II development tools and off-the-shelf
intellectual property (IP) from Altera’s partners, developers can accomplish these
updates with a few weeks of development time or less.
Figure 1. Generic FPGA-Based, 2-Channel Industrial Ethernet System

Cyclone®
Cyclone III
IVSeries
SeriesFPGA
FPGA

Nios®IIII
Nios MAC
MAC PHY
PHY
Optional
Optional Processor
Processor
CPU
CPU ++
Ethernet
Ethernet
Stack
Stack MAC
MAC PHY
PHY

When combined with an Ethernet transceiver (known as a PHY), the FPGA can
perform all of the functions required by the Ethernet interface. The PHY and board
electronics deal with the physical (Layer 1) interface, and the (Layer 2) media access
controller (MAC) hardware functions are configured as programmable logic to run in
the FPGA. Higher level functions (Layer 3 and up) are implemented in software
running on a processor core (such as the Nios® II embedded processor) configured
into the FPGA logic. Implementing a communication channel between an existing
application processor and the FPGA is also feasible because of the programmable
nature of the FPGA logic, the multistandard support of the I/O pins, and the
availability of a wide range of off-the-shelf interface IP. Usually, an existing interface
in the processor device (e.g., I2C, SPI, or some local parallel I/O bus) or on the system
(e.g., PCI®, PCI Express® (PCIe®), CANopen, etc.) can be used to communicate with
the FPGA. This approach offers the advantage of requiring minimal computing time
and changes to the application software running on the existing processor. This
FPGA-based approach preserves the status of the system software and brings
additional processing resources to deliver a high-performance implementation of the
Industrial Ethernet stack processing.
Because the FPGA hardware is reconfigurable, designers can create a system that
contains two or more soft microprocessor cores, enabling integration of the
application processing into the FPGA. Benefits of this type of system integration can
include reductions in component count, cost, and power consumption. In addition, an
FPGA IP-based design is protected against obsolescence due to the long device
lifetime of the FPGA and the ability to migrate easily to newer generations of FPGAs.
Devices such as Altera’s Cyclone® IV family also provide the opportunity to
accelerate system performance by implementing computationally intense functions as

November 2010 Altera Corporation A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

Page 4 Building a FPGA-Based Hardware Design

FPGA hardware instead of software, thus delivering a more efficient implementation

and bringing the benefits of higher performance, lower clock speed, and lower power
consumption. For Industrial Ethernet, the FPGA hardware design can also include a
hub, switch, or similar hardware that accelerates the Ethernet communication or
implements special features like ring redundancy.
Not only does an FPGA allow the off-loading of application tasks to an embedded
processor or hardware (e.g., DSP blocks) implemented in FPGA logic, the flexibility of
the FPGA also allows the implementation of new interfaces in the system, including
simple communication interfaces (e.g., UARTs, parallel I/O, PWM, etc.), more
complex features like support for new memory standards (e.g., DDR2/3, etc.), and the
latest communication technologies (e.g., Bluetooth, Gigabit Ethernet, PCIe, etc.).

Building a FPGA-Based Hardware Design

Although creating a processor and Ethernet MAC hardware design sounds difficult, it
is a relatively straightforward task due to a tool called SOPC Builder and the
availability of pre-built processor and Ethernet MAC IP components. As shown in
Figure 2, SOPC Builder is integrated within the Quartus II development environment
and is designed specifically to support the easy creation of IP-based system-on-a-
programmable-chip (SOPC) designs. The developer designs a system using a
graphical user interface (GUI) instead of coding HDL, and SOPC Builder accelerates
and automates the configuration, integration and generation of IP-based systems.
Figure 2. Embedded Development Flow
Hardware

Configure and
Integrate

Hardware System
Configuration Information

Software

FPGA

Compile and Debug

Figure 3 shows a screen shot of the SOPC Builder GUI with a list of the available IP in
the left pane. To add an IP component to the current system, all the designer has to do
is double-click on the IP module required.

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation

Building a FPGA-Based Hardware Design Page 5

Figure 3. Screen Shot of the SOPC Builder Tool

For each selected IP module, a configuration wizard appears that allows the selection
of appropriate options (Figure 3, right). Once this selection is complete, the configured
IP component will appear in the current system design in the pane on the right. The
component base address or interrupt levels can then be changed, and the interconnect
architecture of the system can be modified using the GUI to change the connections
between the IP components. This process (illustrated in Figure 4) allows the quick
design of modular and highly optimized systems. Design errors are flagged in the
bottom window so the designer can easily identify and fix problems like address
conflicts or incorrect component connections.
Figure 4. Using Hardware IP with SOPC Builder to Create an Industrial Ethernet-Capable System

Select Configure Connect

November 2010 Altera Corporation A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

Page 6 Running Software Protocols on the Nios II Processor

Once the system design is complete, the designer clicks on the Generate button and
the SOPC Builder tool generates all of the HDL required to build a working system.
As the IP is pre-built and tested by the vendor, and as the system interconnect is
machine-generated, the design is correct by construction and requires minimal effort
to implement. Once the system is generated, it appears as a design block in the
Quartus II schematic editor. Then hardware synthesis, a single-button operation for
most SOPC Builder-generated systems, creates a configuration file that can be
downloaded into the FPGA.
If, later on, a new or modified design is needed, the designer just opens the SOPC
Builder tool, modifies the design through the GUI, regenerates the system, and
resynthesizes it with the Quartus II software to create another configuration file. This
means a hardware design for a new Industrial Ethernet protocol can be created by
purchasing the hardware IP required and dropping it into the existing system design
and regenerating. One click to resynthesize, and within a short time the new
hardware configuration file is ready.

Running Software Protocols on the Nios II Processor

In embedded systems that include Ethernet support, the processor provides the
higher layer functions (e.g., TCP, UDP, etc.). Altera’s royalty-free, 32-bit RISC Nios II
embedded processors come in three binary compatible variants, each optimized for
different ratios of size and performance: the Nios II/f processor for high performance,
the Nios II/e processor for minimum size, and the Nios II/s processor for a balance of
size and performance. More details are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Nios II Processor Clock Speed, Performance, and Logic Consumption
Cyclone III FPGAs Stratix IV FPGAs
Processor
Clock Speed (MHz) DMIPS LEs Clock Speed (MHz) DMIPS LEs
Nios II /f 175 195 1,800 290 340 1,020
Nios II /s 145 90 1,300 250 150 850
Nios II /e 215 30 650 340 48 520

Because the Nios II processor is delivered as an SOPC Builder IP component, it is easy

to create processor-based systems that include Ethernet MAC IP, a range of other
peripheral components, or even multiple Nios II processors. With the SOPC Builder
GUI, it is easy and quick to build a Nios II processor system that meets the designer’s
exact requirements, and even to create different versions for different applications.
The SOPC Builder-ready Nios II processor is also compatible with both the free and
the evaluation IP that is delivered with the Quartus II software. This IP includes
modules for standard processor peripheral functionality (e.g., UART, PIO, memory
controllers, etc.), as well as a wider range of licensable IP components available from
Altera and Altera partners (e.g., Ethernet MACs, CAN, USB, PCI, PCIe, FFT, FIR, DSP,
video processing cores, a selection of Industrial Ethernet IP, etc.). Where appropriate,
these components come with a Nios II driver that is automatically integrated into the
software build system by the powerful Nios II software development environment.
This environment supports development in C and assembler, and is familiar to many
developers because it is based on the well-known Eclipse and GNU operating
systems.

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation

Industrial Ethernet Hardware and Software IP Page 7

Industrial Ethernet Hardware and Software IP

Today there are commercially available IP packages for many Industrial Ethernet
protocols, some of which are shown in Table 3. Hardware IP is usually packaged as a
SOPC Builder component that contains the MAC and any additional logic required by
the protocol. Software IP is delivered as a library or software API written in C for the
Nios II processor. Some vendors market pre-built FPGA configurations and board
designs, enabling designers to use the FPGA as easily as an off-the-shelf ASIC or
ASSP. It is even possible to purchase ready-made and tested board modules to add
directly onto an existing product, effectively adding the programmability of the FPGA
without the effort of creating a configuration file or designing the PCB to carry the
device.
Table 3. Industrial Ethernet Protocol FPGA IP Vendors
Protocol Vendor (1) Approximate Cycle Time
IXXAT,
Modbus TCP 200 ms–10 ms+
Softing
IXXAT,
EtherNet/IP 200 ms–10 ms+
Softing
IXXAT,
PROFINET RT Softing,
10 ms–1 ms+
(PROFINET IO) ZHAW (Zürcher Hochschule für
Angewandte Wissenschaften)
ETHERNET Powerlink IXXAT <1 ms
SERCOS International,
SERCOS III Automata GmbH, <1 ms
IXXAT
VARAN Sigmatek GmbH <1 ms
Beckhoff (hardware IP),
EtherCAT Softing (software stack), <1 ms
IXXAT (software stack)
IXXAT,
IEEE 1588 -
MoreThanIP

Note:
(1) Please verify availability with vendors as products are subject to change.

f For further information on these Industrial Ethernet Protocol FPGA IP vendors, see
Altera’s Industrial Networking Partner Program (INPP). Each of these vendors has
proven expertise in the field, robust IP solutions, and product evaluation packages
that all work on the Industrial Networking Kit (INK) from Terasic. This means that
with one board, a designer can easily evaluate different vendors and start
development on the same board, even when using IP products from multiple
vendors.

November 2010 Altera Corporation A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

Page 8 FPGA Family Overview

Although IEEE 1588 is not an Ethernet protocol standard, this packet time-stamping
IP is often associated with Industrial Ethernet to improve determinism. Thus, the
vendors for this IP have been included in Table 3. FPGAs are very flexible and can
support many interface protocols and standards. For example, IP for industrial
fieldbus standards such as SERCOS II, PROFIBUS, Interbus-S, CAN, and others can
be found ready for implementation in FPGAs. Thanks to the flexibility and increasing
cost effectiveness of FPGAs, the number of supported industrial communications
standards continues to grow.

FPGA Family Overview

The low-cost Cyclone III and Cyclone IV FPGAs are the best devices for Industrial
Ethernet applications as these FPGA families have been designed for high-volume,
cost-sensitive, low power applications and are available as industrial grade devices.
These families consist of devices that range from 5K to 120K logic elements (LEs) and
from 82 to 531 user I/O pins across many different device packages. Cyclone series
FPGAs also offer up to 4 Mb of embedded memory, 288 embedded 18-bit x 18-bit
multipliers, dedicated external memory interface circuitry, phase-locked loops (PLLs),
and high-speed differential I/O capabilities. With 6,272 LEs, even the smallest
Cyclone IV E device (EP4C6F17) easily holds a Nios II processor with some additional
IP components, and can support a basic Ethernet connection. For customers who need
higher performance, Altera offers the low-cost Arria® II GX FPGA family (with built-
in high-speed transceivers and PCIe cores), the high-performance Stratix® IV FPGA
family, and its pin-compatible HardCopy® ASIC family.

Getting Started
To evaluate the Industrial Ethernet solution that best suits a system’s requirements,
the first thing a designer will need is a development kit such as the new Cyclone IV E
Industrial Networking Kit (INK) shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. The Cyclone IV E INK

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation

Getting Started Page 9

The INK has features such as dual 10/100/1000-Mbps Ethernet ports, 128-MB
SDRAM, 8-MB flash memory, 2-MB SRAM and security EEPROM that make it ideal
for developing Industrial Ethernet solutions. It also carries HSMC and GPIO
expansion connectors that allow the board to support additional interfaces and
applications. Included in the kits is a HSMC expansion board that supports dual
CAN, dual RS-485, RS-232, and dual PROFIBUS interfaces to support a wide range of
fieldbus communication standards. Other applications that the board can support
include motor/motion control, video surveillance, and machine vision.
The INK is used by all of Altera’s INPP members as an evaluation and development
platform. The designer can use the INK to evaluate IP for multiple standards and
multiple vendors on the same board, then use the same board for prototyping and
product development.
Networking solutions providers such as Softing, Beckhoff, Automata, and IXXAT
offer a wide breadth of Industrial Ethernet support on Cyclone III and Cyclone IV E
FPGAs. Table 3 shows the Industrial Ethernet protocol standards supported by each
partner. While the INK is used to support Cyclone IV designs, Altera partners also
support a variety of Altera-based FPGA solutions, as illustrated in Figure 6.
Figure 6. Partner Industrial Ethernet Solutions

IXXAT (Cyclone III) Softing (Cyclone III) Beckhoff (Cyclone III)

Industrial Ethernet Module Industrial Ethernet Module EtherCAT Evaluation Kit

Automata (Cyclone IV) EBV (Cyclone IV) Arrow (Cyclone III)

SERCOS III Kit MercuryCode Board MotionFire Base Board

Softing offers the Real-Time Ethernet Module (RTEM), which targets PROFINET (IO),
EtherCAT, and Modbus/TCP on the same Cyclone III FPGA platform. This module
integrates “as is” directly into an existing product with minimal changes, and
communicates with the product’s main board via serial I/O, parallel I/O, or any
similar proprietary interface. For systems with an Altera FPGA designed into the
main PCB, Softing offers licenses for IP cores, protocol stack software, application
interfaces, and any additional design services required.

November 2010 Altera Corporation A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

Page 10 Summary

With their Industrial Ethernet Module (IEM), IXXAT supports Ethernet Powerlink,
EtherNet/IP, SERCOS III, EtherCAT, and Modbus TCP. The IEM is easily integrated
with products to deliver a quick and easy drop-in Industrial Ethernet solution. IXXAT
also provides hardware services and solutions to quickly integrate the IEM into an
existing product so it can quickly support the required Industrial Ethernet standards.
In addition, IXXAT licenses IP cores, protocol stack software, and application
interfaces for developers who want to develop their own FPGA boards.
The SERCOS I/II networking standard has been around for many years but only the
latest version, SERCOS III, is Ethernet based. SERCOS III upgrades the features of
SERCOS I/II with a deterministic real-time, high-performance communications
interface over Ethernet between motion controls, digital servo drives, and I/O
devices. If the design requires the SERCOS III protocol, Automata offers software
stacks, development boards, and design services.
The MotionFire (Motor Control) Development Kit from Arrow Electronics provides a
versatile global platform for evaluation and development of both motor-control and
Industrial Ethernet applications on the same board. The kit consists of a FireFighter
Cyclone III FPGA-based board and a FireDriver power board that drive two BLDC
motors (scalable up to 6 FireDriver boards). With open-source motor-control IP from
Unjo AB and Industrial Ethernet IP from Softing, MotionFire delivers the means to
evaluate motor-control applications across multiple Industrial Ethernet protocols.
Ethernet protocols and motor-control IP from other vendors can also be ported to this
platform.
If the design requires the EtherCAT Industrial Ethernet protocol, then the EtherCAT
specification, slave IP license, and software license can be obtained from the
EtherCAT Technology Group (ETG). Alternatively, systems integrators such as IXXAT
and Softing can implement the EtherCAT solution for the design. The ETG also
markets a Beckhoff evaluation kit that can be used to evaluate or prototype EtherCAT
implementations on the Altera Cyclone III FPGA.
The MercuryCode (DBC4CE55) development kit from EBV (Europe only) is another
comprehensive solution for implementing protocol-independent Industrial Ethernet
systems. The board has two RJ-45 Ethernet sockets, each driven by an Ethernet PHY
connected to the FPGA. With this board, all a designer needs to implement any
Industrial Ethernet standard is the upper-layer software, the Layer-2 hardware IP (or
MAC IP), and the Nios II processor. Reference designs for many Industrial Ethernet
protocols have been proven on the MercuryCode board (or its predecessor, the
DBC3C40 board) and are available today. The board also carries transceivers for CAN,
USB, UART, and LVDS interfaces for high-speed communication or for driving LCD
displays.

Summary
Ethernet technology for the industrial market brings many benefits and is expected to
show strong growth over the next five years. There are many Industrial Ethernet
protocol solutions available, each with their own particular set of advantages. What is
clear is that Ethernet technology will continue to advance, driving the evolution of
both new and current Industrial Ethernet solutions. Technologies like 1-Gbps and

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation

Summary Page 11

10-Gbps Ethernet and real-time improvements to the current IEEE 802.3 standard will
deliver higher performance and better reliability. In addition, the focus on other
industrial areas such as security, redundancy, and safety protocols will undoubtedly
continue to drive change in Industrial Ethernet standards, providing a constant
challenge to industrial equipment manufacturers.
The advent of low-cost devices such as Cyclone IV FPGAs and embedded processor
IP such as Nios II processors has enabled cost-effective programmable solutions for
Industrial Ethernet. FPGAs deliver the ability to support any Ethernet-based
industrial communication protocol from the same base hardware as well as the
benefits of system integration, flexibility, and obsolescence protection that come with
programmable logic devices. The combination of reconfigurable hardware, SOPC
Builder, and the Nios II processor enables developers to easily modify both the upper
and lower layers of the Ethernet protocol without changing the physical hardware. As
existing protocols evolve and augment or supplant legacy fieldbus implementations,
and new protocols emerge, it is increasingly important to have a flexible, cost-effective
platform solution that can support any Industrial Ethernet protocol standard.
Implementing Industrial Ethernet in FPGAs has become necessary for all industrial
equipment manufacturers to help lower their total cost of ownership.

November 2010 Altera Corporation A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

Page 12 Further Information

Further Information
■ Industrial Market:
www.altera.com/industrial
■ Nios II Processor: The World’s Most Versatile Embedded Processor
www.altera.com/nios
■ Cyclone III FPGAs: Unlimited Possibilities:
www.altera.com/cyclone3
■ Cyclone IV FPGAs: Lowest Cost, Lowest Power, Integrated Transceivers:
www.altera.com/cyclone4
■ Embedded Processing:
www.altera.com/embedded

Industrial Ethernet Products

■ Industrial Networking Partner Program:
www.altera.com/b/industrial-networking-partner-program.html
■ Industrial Networking Kit:
www.altera.com/end-markets/industrial/automation/ethernet/protocols/ind-
networking-kit.html
■ EtherNet/IP, PROFINET RT, ETHERNET Powerlink, Modbus-TCP, EtherCAT, and
IEEE 1588 stack:
http://ixxat.com/altera_cooperation_en.html
■ EtherNet/IP, PROFINET RT, Modbus-IDA, and EtherCAT:
www.softing.com/home/en/industrial-automation/products/real-time-
ethernet/altera-industrial-networking-kit.php
■ EtherCAT:
www.beckhoff.com/english/ethercat/et1810_et1811.htm
■ SERCOS III:
www.automataweb.com/ALTERA_INK_EN
■ PROFINET IRT, easyIRT:
www.ines.zhaw.ch
■ MercuryCode (or DBC4CE55) board and reference designs:
■ Europe: www.ebv.com
■ Rest of World: www.devboards.de
■ MotionFire:
www.arrownac.com/mktg/motionfire
■ openPOWERLINK:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/openpowerlink
■ VARAN:
www.sigmatek.at

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation

Acknowledgements Page 13

Industrial Ethernet Organizations

■ CC-Link Partner Association (CLPA):
www.cc-link.org
■ EtherCAT Technology Group:
www.ethercat.org
■ ETHERNET Powerlink Standardization Group (EPSG):
www.ethernet-powerlink.org
■ Fieldbus Foundation:
www.fieldbus.org
■ Modbus:
www.modbus-ida.org
■ ODVA for Ethernet/IP:
www.odva.org
■ PROFIBUS and PROFINET:
www.profinet.com
■ Safety Network International e.V.:
www.safetybus.de
■ SERCOS interface:
www.sercos.org
■ SynqNet:
www.synqnet.org
■ VARAN Bus User Organization:
www.varan-bus.net

Acknowledgements
■ Stefano J. Zammattio, Product Manager, Altera Corporation
■ Jason Chiang, Sr. Technical Marketing Manager, Altera Corporation
■ Stefan Weiher, Product Manager, IXXAT GmbH
■ Frank Iwanitz, Product Manager, Softing AG
■ Prof. Hans Doran, ZHAW InES

November 2010 Altera Corporation A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet

Page 14 Document Revision History

Document Revision History

Table 4 shows the revision history for this document.

Table 4. Document Revision History

Date Version Changes
■ Minor text edits
■ Updates to Introduction, Implementing a Universal Industrial Ethernet Solution, Industrial
November 2010 3.0 Ethernet Hardware and Software IP, FPGA Family Overview, and Getting Started sections.
■ Updates to Figure 1, Table 3, and Figure 6.
■ Added Figure 5.
July 2009 2.0 Minor text edits.
November 2008 1.1 Minor text edits.
October 2007 1.0 Initial release.

A Flexible Solution for Industrial Ethernet November 2010 Altera Corporation